Reel for clothes-lines.



0. W. OTT. REEL FOR CLOTHES LINES.

APPLICATION FILED IBB.2B, 1911.

PatentedMar. 19, 1912.

WITNESSES Aftomey;

CHARLES W. OTT, OF PITTSBURG, KANSAS.

REEL FOR CLOTHES-LINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 19, 1912.

Application filed February 28, 1911. Serial No. 611,336.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES l/V. Orr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburg, in the county of Crawford and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Reels for Clothes-Lines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to reels adapted to be used for winding the end of a clothes line and taking up the slack in the latter.

An object of the invention is to provide a reel which may be secured to a post or part of a building and which will effectively serve to take up the slack in a clothes line.

Another object is to provide a device of this character which is so constructed that as the rope is wound thereon the device will catch automatically upon a portion of the line to prevent the reel from turning in a direction which would allow the line to unwind therefrom.

Another object is to provide a reel of this character which is constructed in such a manner that it is impossible for the reel to be placed upon its support in any but the proper position.

A further object is to provide a reel and support therefor of novel form, said reel and support being so constructed that the former may be readily removed from this support whenever desired.

Other objects and advantages will be hereinafter set forth and pointed out in the specification.

In the accompanying drawings which are made a part of this application, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the reel and support secured to a suitable post. Fig. 2 is a front elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view through the central portion of the device, taken on line 33 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4: is a detail view of the bracket secured to a suitable support, and, Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view on the line 5 5 of Fig. 2.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 1 represents the bracket or securing plate having riveted thereto the supporting pin 2. The plate 1 is adapted to be secured to the side of a building, post or other suitable support by means of screws or other fastening means 3. The pin 2 is provided near its outer end with the reduced neck portion 1, on the other end of which is formed a head 5, said head having a diameter greater than that of the neck 4, but slightly less than the diameter of the body portion of the pin 2. The purpose of this construction will be later described.

The reel is formed of a rectangularly shaped member having its opposite ends bifurcated to form the V-shaped legs (3, having the V-shaped slots thcrcbetwecn. The rectangular member is provided with a transverse passage 7 through the central portion 8 thereof, said passage extending at right angles to the,V-shaped slots. Upon one face of the rectangular member is socured a bearing plate 9 having a central aperture 10 in alincment with the passage 7, but slightly smaller than the latter. Opposite the plate 9 is a second plate 11. having a similar passage 12, said passage 12 being of a size approximately the same as the diameter of the passage 7 the purpose of which will later appear. The platestland 11 are connected by means of pins or rivets 13 passing through the body portion 8 of the rectangular member upon opposite sides of the passage 7. The plate 11 is spaced from the central or body portion 8 by means of the spools 14 mounted upon the rivets 1.3.

The reel is placed upon the pin 2 with the plate 11 toward the plate 1, said pin passing through the plate 1.1 and the central portion 8 of the reel and the head thereof passing through the plate 9. The pin is of such length that when the reel is in position thereupon the neck portion 41 rests within the aperture 10 of the plate 9, the head 5 extending through said plate.

It will be seen that owing to the diameters of the various portions of the pin and the small opening in the plate 9, it would be impossible to force the reel upon the pin in any position except that just described.

Upon the faces of the forked members 6 toward the plate 11 are positioned, adjacent the outer ends of said forked members, the catch or latch members 15, which are formed by being bent upon themselves, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 5, and are secured upon said forked members by securing screws or other suitable means 16.

In use. the device being secured in the manner shown in Fig. 1, the end of the rope or line is secured within one of the V slots and the reel rotated to wind the line there upon until nearly all of the slack in said line has been taken up by the winding, at which time the rope is guided to the rollers or spools 14 and the winding process completed. At each half revolution of the reel the latches or catches 15 will catch upon the straight portion of the line adjacent the reel, and will thereby prevent any backward rotation of the reel. As the rope tightens upon the reel, the latter will be drawn against the pin 2 causing a portion of the bearing plate 9 to press tightly against a portion of the neck 4 and thus prevent the reel from slipping outwardly past the head 5 of the pin.

It is evident that the line may be wound upon the reel either while the latter is upon the pin 2 or while being held within the operators hands. If held by the operator during the winding or unwinding operations, the operator grasps the reel by the plates 9 and 11 and the central portion 8 of said reel to rotate the latter. Thus'it will be seen that the plates 9 and 11 and the rollers 1 L may serve the double purpose, that of securing members and of grasping memhere or holding portions.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided a reel and support wnich may be used for winding or unwinding clothes lines, or in. fact any rope or cable desired, said reel and reel support being of novel construction, positive in operation and cheap to manufacture.

It is evident that the line may be easily wound upon the reel and taken in when used. The plate 11 projects beyond. the spools far enough to form a flange to keep the rope on spools. The spools form a sort of drum around which to wind the rope, forming a big leverage on which to tighten the rope after the slack has been taken up on the larger or reel part.

In use, the supporting part is preferably placed about waist high from the ground, the intention being to place a hook immediately above the reel the height from the ground it is desired to have the hookand hooks placed wherever rope is to go so that it can all be made tight by means of the reel.

What I claim is:

1. A reel and support comprising forked portions and a body portion having a pas sage therethrough, a bracket adapted to be secured to asupport, said bracket having an outw rdly extending portion adapted to receive the said reel, means for preventing the reel from working olf of said bracket, means carried by the forked portions of the reel for engagement with a rope being wound thereupon to prevent rotation of said reel in one direction, a bearing plate between said reel and said bracket, spacing rollers spacing said plate from said reel, and means for securing said plate and said rollers in position.

2. A reel and support comprising in combination forked, straight, pointed legs extending from a central body portion, said forked portions having rt-shaped slots there between adapted to receive the end of a line, bearing plates upon opposite sides of said body portion, one of said plates being spaced from said body portion, means for spacing said plate from said body portion, a passage through said body portion at right angles to said if-shaped slots, communicating passages through said plates communicating with said passage through said body portion, a bracket adapted to support said reel, said bracket consisting of a plate secured to a stationary support, a pin cured to said plate and extending outwardly therefrom, said pin being adapted to be engaged through said passages, one of the plates serving to prevent the reel from working off of said pin when a line is wound upon said reel, and means carried by said legs of the reel upon their faces toward the spaced plate to engage said line at each half revolution of said reel to prevent backward movement of the latter.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES W. OTT.

Witnesses MILTON DAVIES, A. T. YAROHO.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Gommissioner of Patents.

Washington, I). C. 

